Kids Come First Act

[stormiestl]

Please join me in co-sponsoring the Kids Come First Act on johnkerry.com.

http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst

Every parent knows the fear of waking up to the cries of a sick baby or a child
with an ear infection that will not go away. As parents, we both remember the
countless times we called that first pediatrician to get answers to every last
question.

But far too many parents have another fear, on top of their child's health.
They worry that a sick child means financial ruin. There are more than eleven
million uninsured children in our nation. These children are less likely to
get a routine checkup, or to get treatment for common ailments like asthma.
They miss more days of school. It is a disgrace that eleven million children lack
health insurance in the richest nation on earth.

On Monday, the first legislative day of the new Congress, I introduced, S.114,
the "Kids Come First Act of 2005." It's a bold plan to provide health
insurance for every child in America. Under this proposal, the federal government
will pay the full costs for all poverty-level children enrolled in Medicaid
program. In return, we will ask states to expand coverage to children in families
with higher incomes than are currently eligible, as well to make enrollment
into these programs simpler, automatic, and more continuous. This plan will
expand coverage to as many as eleven million children and will provide much needed
relief for states that are struggling under persistent growing budgetary pressures.

But if we are to be successful in covering every child in America, we must
also help families meet their parental obligation and responsibility to get
their children insured. My bill requires parents to insure their children and
show proof of their coverage each year when they file taxes if they want to
keep the full amount of their federal child tax credit. But in addition to this
requirement, the bill sets forth meaningful policy changes to help families
achieve these goals by: allowing higher-income parents an option to buy-in to
the state child health insurance program; allowing some parents to get a state
subsidy to help pay the premiums on their employer's health plan for children;
and providing tax credits to maintain coverage affordability by assuring that
no family pays more than 5 percent of their annual income on health care for
their children.

Many of you have already joined me in signing an on-line pledge of support
for this program. And for that I am truly grateful. Now that we have legislative
language and a bill number, I have another request for you. We need to build
grassroots support and momentum behind this bill. George Bush and his Republican
colleagues in the Congress already stole more than $1 billion in child health
funding that was promised to the states late last year. That would have been
enough funding to cover an additional 750,000 children, yet Bush turned a blind
eye to Democrats' requests to extend the funding.

We can only break through with the help of your voices. Please call your Senators
today and ask that they cosponsor S. 114, the "Kids Come First Act of 2005."
Every additional name we add on to this bill is just one step closer we get
to putting it on the President's desk for signature.

Thank you in advance for sharing with me the common vision that there no longer
be any uninsured children in America.

http://www.johnkerry.com/KidsFirst